Opinion: The risk from Fannie Mae’s mission creep

At a time of high mortgage rates and inflation, the federal government — along with government-sponsored enterprises — is understandably under pressure to lower costs and make homeownership more accessible. We share the goal of improving housing affordability. However, any effort to lower housing costs should be responsibly examined for

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First Citizens Bank to acquire Silicon Valley Bank

First Citizens Bank & Trust Company will acquire failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which unexpectedly failed earlier this month and sent shock waves across the financial sector. The North Carolina-based First Citizens announced on Monday an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to acquire all of SVB’s deposits

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The cure for appraisal gap anxiety

When you google “appraisal gap” — and I just did — a long list of search results appear. To my surprise, the top results did not link to economists expounding on the intricacies of home price fluctuations, the leading theories on avoiding overvaluation or pictures of stunt riders jumping over

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FHFA prevention actions surpassed 52K in Q4 2022

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released on Thursday its Fourth Quarter 2022 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, stating that government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 52,469 foreclosure prevention actions in Q4 2022. That figure increases the total number of GSE-assisted homeowners to 6,712,833 since the start

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CFPB funding is constitutional, Second Circuit court rules

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, comprising the districts of Connecticut, New York and Vermont, decided on Thursday that the funding provisions for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) are constitutional. A case between the CFPB and the Law Offices of Crystal Moroney — a law

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Brokers, here’s how to market yourself as a non-QM broker

With current market conditions having a negative impact on traditional agency loans, expanding into non-QM products can allow brokers to grow their business and reach a wider borrower pool. But what’s the best way for brokers to market themselves to reach that wider, non-QM audience? According to Hitz Mistry, chief

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Low housing inventory a win for homebuilders

If there’s one sector of the economy that benefits from the very low levels of total housing inventory, it’s the homebuilders, but for a reason you might not think. If national housing inventory were back to normal, we would have 2 to 2.5 million active listings, and these active listings

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Warehouse lenders facing fallout from industry woes

The ongoing tumult in the banking industry brought to light by the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank — the second and third largest bank failures in U.S. history, respectively — also threatens liquidity channels for the independent mortgage banks (IMBs). Two banks that rank among the nation’s top warehouse lenders

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